Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. We’ve all heard this saying before and gamers have been subjected to this ideology for years. If a game is a success then be prepared for an avalanche of new games that are just as similar. Which, in my opinion, is why it’s hard to judge Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble. The first Viewtiful Joe game was a refreshing change of pace from what the gaming industry had been producing. The gaming press had nothing but praise for the first game because of its original characters and engrossing gameplay. Well, with Red Hot Rumble (RHR) Viewtiful Joe is now trying to imitate another franchise, Super Smash Brothers. On paper the combination of Super Smash Brothers gameplay and Viewtiful Joe’s characters, look and moves reads like a guaranteed success.  But the proof is in the pudding (or some other words of wisdom) and RHR doesn’t play as well as it sounded on paper.

The single-player mode is played out via the Story Mode. The Story Mode revolves around Captain Blue directing his first action-hero movie. However, Captain Blue is having a difficult time deciding who will be the next great action superhero of the movie. Sprocket offers a suggestion to help solve Director Blue’s dilemma and Blue loves it. Captain Blue calls a press conference to announce that he wants all superheroes to battle each other on screen to determine who will be the star of the movie. You select one character to start off the Story Mode and then fight your way through several levels.

Each stage is composed of usually three to four action scenes (stages). Each stage has you battling against another character from the Viewtiful Joe universe and having an objective for the stage. The objectives can range from something as simple as destroying more bad guys than your opponent to something more complex such as firing rockets at a spaceship. The ultimate goal for every level is to finish the level with more points (coins) then your opponents. You actually don’t have to win every battle instead it’s usually more important to collect more points so you end up with more points at the end of the level. However the game does change this formula from time to time by having a specific level goal such as winning each battle just to make sure you’re always trying to win. The game’s story is told with text boxes before each stage with usually Captain Blue describing how the scene will play out.
 

The Battle Mode is where the multiplayer action kicks in. You and up to three other players can battle it out on any of the stages that you’ve unlocked in the single-player mode. This means that all of the multiplayer battles have the same objectives as the single-player levels. There isn’t a way to change the objectives of the stages, which is disappointing since you’re just replaying the single-player levels over again.

The game includes four VFX actions that you can collect and use during the battles: Slow, Mach Speed, Zoom and Sound Effect. The Slow VFX (a.k.a. the Matrix effect) allows you to slow the action down for pinpoint accuracy, while the Mach Speed VFX gives you burning-fast speed. The Zoom VFX causes your character to grow to huge proportions and the Sound Effect VFX gives you the ability to damage others with a wall of sound. All of the VFX moves can be performed by collecting a VFX orb and pressing the Left or Right shoulder button. But if everyone is using VFX moves during a battle (which they will) the screen gets almost too chaotic to keep up. The game includes short mini games called VFX battles that can give you an extra coin bonus if you win. Just as you pick up VFX orbs you can also pick up VFX Battle orbs to active the mini games. When you activate one of the VFX Battle orbs the game transports you and the other combatants to another area to play the mini games. The mini games usually involve hitting buttons at a certain time or smashing your buttons faster than your opponents do.

As you can tell the game offers a straightforward approach with the two gameplay modes. But this is where the game stumbles since the gameplay just isn’t exciting enough to keep you entertained for hours and hours. The first problem is keeping up with the action on the screen. The action was frantic all the times, which resulted in me having a hard time locating my character during certain battles. This was a bigger problem in the Battle Mode even when the camera angle would zoom out to show all of the characters. The game would load the screen at times with a ton of enemies; coins and other objects that would make it seem as if your character was disappearing. Previous Viewtiful Joe games seemed to push the boundaries of filling the screen with action but when all of the action is happening with four characters it’s a chore keeping up.

Another issue with the gameplay was the pacing of the battles. Some of the battles were over almost immediately, depending on the objective. If the objective was to knock your opponent into a certain part of the stage, you could time the attack just right to win the battle almost immediately. While other levels seemed to drag on forever such as the flag battles. The objective was to take control of the flag on the stage but you have a time limit. I was able to just stand around and do nothing on some of those stages until the last ten seconds because you won the battle if you finished the battle with the flag. The last issue with the battles is hard to justify or document in a rock-solid description. The battles just weren’t as fun as I expected them to be. During the single-player mode it seemed as if I was just running through the motions and not really playing the game. I never felt in complete control of my character for the majority of the battles I played. The sense of excitement I expected to last for a long time quickly faded away after the first few battles.

Even though the gameplay wasn’t as enticing as I expected, the graphics and presentation of the game are amazing. Viewtiful Joe has always been one of the best-looking games with vibrant colors, spectacular special effects and a cartoon style that I’m sure makes other developers jealous. All of the excellent graphics from the previous games are included in RHR. Just watching someone else play RHR is similar to watching an anime (or cartoon show) on television. There are ton of stages to unlock in the single-player mode and each stage has its own unique look to them. Most of the crazy characters and ideas from the previous games are included in RHR.

At the end of review and it’s time to summarize what we’ve discussed so far but let’s try changing it up a little bit with some questions. Do you like Viewtiful Joe? Do you like quirky anime shows? The last question is a familiar one .... do you like Viewtiful Joe? If you’ve answered yes to all of these questions then you’re going to enjoy RHR. It probably won’t exceed the average gamer’s expectations but hardcore Joe fans know what they’re getting into with RHR. If you’re not a hardcore Joe fan then try it as a rental and make your decision after a few hours.

Gameplay: 7.0
The gameplay is solid with tight controls and intense action but RHR still left me wanting something else. Missing out on the action because I couldn’t find my character is a big “no no” in my book but I guess it’s going to happen with a multiplayer Joe game. The game is, at times, filled with too much action especially with everyone pulling off VFX moves.

Graphics: 7.7
All of the characters in the game look incredible and the game keeps the same classic Joe look from the earlier games. But with too much happening at once on the screen maybe holding back would have gone a long way to help the game.

Sound: 7.5
The music and sound effects in the game get the job done in setting the mood and tone of the game. You hear all of the character call off their VFX moves when they use them during the battles. The voice acting for all of the characters were great. The most memorable part of the sound effects have to be the voice acting with some great one liners from Captain Blue when you pause the game.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
No one should have any big problems getting into the game or clearing out the majority of the battles. Sometimes the computer opponents can be relentless in certain battles but perseverance pays off.

Multiplayer: 7.0
The game gets a decent score for the multiplayer just because it’s a GameCube game that offers 4 players multiplayer. Even if the action gets in the way of making this a great multiplayer game it’s good enough for a group of friends to duke it out.

Concept: 7.0
As I mentioned earlier RHR is just a combination of Super Smash Brothers and Viewtiful Joe. It doesn’t raise the bar or increase the gaming marquee value of Viewtiful Joe but I don’t believe it was trying to in the first place. The game is what it is, a multiplayer party game to battle it out with your friends.

Overall: 7.2
Even though I have mentioned some negatives parts of RHR a score of 7.2 is still a good, decent score. The game has some amazing graphics and a style that is hard to match. If you’ve never played a Viewtiful Joe game and you want a quick experience then RHR is a good place to start. The main course of the meal is still found in the first two Joe games but RHR is nice addition to the series. It’s just unfortunate that RHR doesn’t capture the same fun and excitement of the first two Joe games.